There is a lot more to it than that, but it has nothing to do with this. I can put Deputy Boyd Barrett at ease in that regard.

By the way, I object, like the Deputy does, to Israel's consistent messaging that if you are not onside, you are offside or antisemitic. That is wrong. You are entitled to be against Israeli Government policy and criticise it and not be labelled antisemitic. That is absolutely correct and I support it. Deputy Tóibín should talk to his former colleagues in Sinn Féin in earnest and engage with them on the health services in Northern Ireland. That is one issue. There are broader problems with the National Health Servi…

Under the shared island initiative, we are trying to do specific projects and programmes, for example in paediatric and cardiovascular health, cardiac surgery and the cancer centre at Altnagelvin hospital. Those are good programmes that have worked very well. Deputy Quaide referred to Prime Minister Starmer. I do not see him as an authoritarian person when I meet him. I spoke about the continuum of protest. I am not au fait with British security services or why they came to do what they did in respect of Palestine …

-----of the origins of our neutrality.

I apologise. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for her tolerance.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 to 23, inclusive, together. Regulation, and the extent of any regulatory or administrative burden, has recently become a greater focus at European Union level and nationally as a means to further enhance competitiveness. At a European level, both simplification and implementation are important Commission priorities. The Commission is striving to simplify and lighten the administrative burden of European Union regulations to ensure they are proportionate, stable, coherent and tech…

Deputy McCormack raised infrastructure reform, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Some of the measures we have taken in respect of deferring the alignment of the minimum wage with the national living wage will help to avoid the escalation of costs because the SME sector has borne the brunt of a lot of additional costs over the past five years. There is no doubt the reduction in VAT on hospitality will help a lot of SMEs in the hospitality sector and hairdressing as well. The number of sick days leav…

They should sort it out. A school is an important facility. The county council should be facilitative in the building of a school.

Deputy O'Rourke raised regulation online. We have now established the regulatory framework governing online. There is ongoing review in respect of it. Children must be protected. That has to be the optimal. Deputy Coppinger raised healthcare assistants and family reunification. We have significant reunification in Ireland under our migration system, in particular when people leave direct provision who have residency. The Minister will bring forward legislation in respect of this and these are issues we can discuss …

First of all, I do not believe €750,000 is right, proper or appropriate in terms of 14 steps, but it seems to me the scheme that was completed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was not just about 14 steps. Nonetheless, the cost is excessive by any yardstick. The Deputy said Sinn Féin had called for a waste audit. I think Sinn Féin could take the example of Deputy Albert Dolan here in front of me, who has done more than most Deputies in the House to shine a light on public expenditure with his online facility…

Sinn Féin is very good at asking and asking but, surely it has a bit of resources and capacity, if it is that concerned about waste-----

-----other than utilising a particular case, which was bad, to try to just go on the waste thing as a political and electoral exercise. In terms of the interaction between the NTA and the county council, €750,000 is too much. Accessibility is very important. In that context, accessibility for wheelchair users, cyclists, parents with buggies and so on was the original objective, apparently, of this scheme by the council and the NTA. More generally, about €360 million of capital funds has been provided for walking an…

I just have.

The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has already introduced more robust and tighter procedures in the area of public spending. On the other hand, the Deputy is saying we are very mean and so on, we are being criticised for overspending-----

-----notwithstanding her desire that we spend billions more.

The Deputy wants us to spend billions more than we allocated in the budget. Ireland's economy is one of the fastest growing economies globally. The stewardship of this economy has been good by this Government and by the previous Government despite Covid-----

-----despite Brexit, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis that followed and the tariffs emanating from the United States. This has been a competent Government with regard to the economic management of this country.

The policies we have pursued are far superior to anything Sinn Féin has produced on the economic front over the past number of years.

There is no question about that. We have no truck with any waste in public expenditure-----

-----and we will deal with it at every layer of Government. Sinn Féin has councillors on that council. Were its councillors with every other councillor tracking it? It is not good enough that there should be that level of expenditure, but we will deal with it.